Monday, June 04, 2012

The Ultimate Loyalist: Azmin or Anwar?

Award-winning columnist Azmi Anshar's The Ultimate Loyalist leads me to wonder if it isn't Anwar Ibrahim who is the ultimate loyalist, the one who would kill and die for Azmin Ali, instead of the other way round. Especially if it's true about what they said - that even Wan Azizah and Nurul Izzah aren't too fond of Azmin!

Azmi's article makes you think, also, as to: What is Abu Kassim, the MACC boss, going to do about Azmin?

Has Abu Kassim re-opened the files? He must. The MACC is always a bit reluctant investigate the Opposition for fear of being accused of bias. It should stopped being afraid. Don't forget, an investigation could also clear Azmin of the accusations made by former ally RPK. It will also shed light on the real role of Shafee(read the article below) and tell us if, indeed, Anwar had swept more than a few things under the carpet when he was the Deputy PM.

Azmin's convoluted stinkers

ULTIMATE LOYALIST: Azmin can turn whistleblower to all of Anwar's secrets and wealth

ANOTHER wrangle, another stinker in the convoluted life of Azmin Ali.

If it's not internal political horseplay within the Parti Keadilan Rakyat of which he is the deputy president, it is his role as receptacle to a nifty sleight of hand that led to the cordon breach in an ugly street demonstration.

If it's not allegations of sexual dalliance captured by a spy camera that went viral, it is the dysfunctional family feud with his mother and sister entrapping him. And all these inside the last five months.

Any mortal trapped inside the eye of any of these psychological hurricanes would have been crushed many times over, but Azmin seems resolute and tough despite the soft physique, confronting all hostilities unconvincingly in some, but with head on tenacity, nevertheless.

RPK, through a series of A4 documents displayed as images on his news portal, Malaysia Today, quoted a former MACC officer as saying that the then Anti-Corruption Agency had buried Azmin's corruption file when Azmin could have been prosecuted.

Then ACA director-general Datuk Shafee Yahaya stated in an exclusive interview with the New Straits Times that he recommended to Anwar that disciplinary action be taken against (Azmin), following a 1995-97 probe into alleged corruption.

In a nutshell, the NST was told by highly-placed sources that Azmin was investigated for, among others, assets allegedly amassed with wife, Shamsidar, including houses and cars totalling almost RM1.5 million, shares valued at hundreds of thousands of ringgit, and almost RM10 million in cash and cheques that went in and out of both their accounts that had been certified by the banks concerned.

What is discomfiting, at least to Anwar and Azmin, is that the typical indignant reactions by opposition colleagues when their PKR bosses get assailed, has been somewhat muted.

Instead of dismissing RPK's imputations of corruption head on, some are calling Azmin and Anwar to come clean and be measured by the same broom that is being swiped to clear graft.

Intriguingly, the voices that had chimed for Anwar and, to a certain extent, Azmin, the so-called intimate backers and supporters, already have a history of desertion in sensationalistic ceremonies.

But not Azmin, who is sticking by Anwar like stubborn sticky glue -- absolutely nothing will break that steely bond, from the time he was Anwar's confidential secretary in the halcyon 1990s in the higher offices of the Federal Government to Anwar's torrid moments, from the sodomy trials to brutal political assaults from all sides.

Azmin is, undoubtedly in the eyes of supporters and detractors, the ultimate loyalist: so quintessential is he to Anwar's scheming that without this man, Anwar's travails could have flamed out ignominiously a long time ago.

In Azmin, Anwar was gifted the ideal right-hand man -- the executioner of his policies and plans, the keeper of all of Anwar's secrets and wealth, the man who knows where all the bodies are buried and skeletons are hidden.

Azmin's political career blossomed under the tutelage of Anwar, first as his confidential secretary and suggested by that career title, possessing confidential knowledge of Anwar's most intimate details.

In Azmin is where the highly sought paper trail ends. If the MACC is keen on resolving this conundrum, then they should train their investigations on Azmin, which means not just probes into his and his wife's financial affairs (Shamsidar read finance in University of Minnesota), but also subpoenas on bank records and people associated to the duo, including the so-called benefactors and sponsors who provided the generous, if not dubious, largesse.

Azmin and Shamsidar should not be treated as hostiles, only because the evidence they can reveal is extremely valuable. But it would be difficult: Azmin will defend Anwar, even if it means sacrificing himself.

In this sense, the authorities could cut a deal and mollycoddle Azmin and Shamsidar as supreme whistle blowers.

16 comments:

Anonymous
said...

"The MACC is always a bit reluctant investigate the Opposition for fear of being accused of bias." This one very funny la...Can make to NIAMAH's funnies..Really only you can think of this Rocky..But we never forget what happen to Teoh Beng Hock.And it is not funny at all..

"Then ACA director-general Datuk Shafee Yahaya stated in an exclusive interview with the New Straits Times that he recommended to Anwar that disciplinary action be taken against (Azmin), following a 1995-97 probe into alleged corruption."

Why would Shafee recommend anything to Anwar instead of pressing charges against Azmin, if he had real, provable evidence of any corruption 15 years ago? Why Anwar and not PM Mahathir who was his boss? Sounds cockamamie to me! Can Shafee offer any proof he actually spoke to Anwar - absolutely not. That's why these accusations are scurrilous and pure BS!

Anyway, I note the MACC has not swung into action (and never did in 1992) when BNM's forex chief Nor Mohd Yapkop lost $30 billion of our national reserves gambling on the forex market. Nor against Razak Baginda and PM Najib about alleged leakage of Naval secrets for RM142 million. In the $250 million cowgate affair MACC first declared NFA. So, too in PKFZ 12.5 billion fiancial scandal.

So, it's cows and carse business as usual for them. Double standards? You betcha!

Both are not loyalists. Both are opportunists. They are using each other to ensure the survival of Keadilan - a party of two.If one is kicked out or loses the GE,the party will fold up.Azmin will be crawling back to UMNO. He will be like Ezam et al in badmouthing his former boss.And I think we don't have too wait for long on the Anwar's cover-up of Azmin's alleged corruption.So many NGOs have lodged a police report and the MACC has no choice but to re-open the file.

How to cut the mollycoddle deal with Azmin.Remember Anwar-Azmin are masters of deception.They can turn around or turn around other people in a flip.'Play the front side then the flip side' is what they have been really good at.

Of course I have not forgotten. Several corrupt politicians were saved by his death, of that many Malaysians have no doubt about. As we go along and get to know the politics of some of our parties, we realize how sinister they can be. The MACC was put in the dock for trying to do the right thing, trying to fight graft.

At the time of his death, ties between PDRM and MACC were really bad. The cops would have been quite happy to pin TBH's death on the MACC, even if they had just a sliver of evidence. Just like MACC had been so happy to target the cops for corrupt practices.

I only wish they are as happy to go after the politicians, including those in the Opposition.